Understanding the hacker threat

Hackers vary in skill and motivation. Some are just a nuisance, while others ruthlessly target individuals, businesses and even entire nations. To defend yourself against today’s cybersecurity threats, start by understanding the five main types of hackers.

The Top 5 Hacker Types

Script Kiddies

These pranksters don’t know much, but with common hacking tools, they’re capable of vandalizing websites. Script Kiddies are basically showoffs, and the damage they do tends to be minimal.

Targets: Social media accounts and the websites of local schools and businesses

Goals: Impressing their friends

Techniques: Social engineering, guessing at passwords or using widely available hacking tools

Resources: With very little money or skill, these hackers can’t achieve much more than annoyance

Hacktivists

These hackers serve protest organizations seeking publicity for their grievances. They tend to be highly skilled, but they lack the resources needed for sustained or serious attacks.

Targets: Websites of governments, large corporations or other organizations accused of injustice

Goals: To publicly embarrass their targets by disrupting their operations

Cyberattacks don’t come from machines. They come from people. That’s why your data security depends on an educated workforce. Our cybersecurity curriculum gives your people the crucial knowledge and skills they need in topics around policy, business process and technology. And that is because our curriculum reflects the uncompromising standards of the world’s foremost technology providers, experts and enterprises. Organizations worldwide trust Global Knowledge for unique insights and skills in data protection. You should, too.